As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,407,554; 4,673,230; 4,413,488; and 4,445,738 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse electrical plug securing mechanisms.
These prior art constructions all have as their main purpose and function the prevention of the unauthorized use by children or others of the equipment, implement or fixture to which the electrical plug is attached. In the case of children a plug security device is desirable to prevent the child from receiving an electrical shock due to improper handling of the prongs of the plug during the insertion of the plug into an electrical receptacle or outlet; and, in the case of both children and adults, an electrical plug security device is desirable to prevent a person from operating a given electrically driven item for a variety of valid reasons.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic function and purpose for which they were specifically designed, these patented structures are also uniformly deficient in their inability to adjustably engage both the front and rear of the plug body, while also securely surrounding the forwardly projecting prong elements of the plug body.
There has obviously existed a longstanding need among those individuals who regularly use these devices for a plug security device that would fulfill the aforementioned functional parameters; and, the electrical plug lock apparatus that forms the basis of the present invention was specifically developed with those goals in mind.